This could be the McIlroy-Woods showdown for the green jacket and history

-There weren’t a lot of similar age/overlapping era gaps between monumental golfers, so I couldn’t really compare the Woods-McIlroy generational relationship to anybody else.

[Update: OOPS. I looked past the classic generational tussle, which would be Arnold Palmer vs. Jack Nicklaus, who were born 10.5 years apart. For some bad math reason, I had them as closer in age when I first wrote this item, which is dumb ol' me.

[Arnold vs. Jack is the all-time overlapping generational battle. Tiger vs. Rory can get there if Tiger keeps going for several more years and if McIlroy turns out to be as great as many of us think he'll be.

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[Thanks to commenter QTLaw for pointing this out.]

Over the last 30 or 40 years, the closest significant older/younger rivalry I could find was Nicklaus and Tom Watson (9 years)–the age is closer, but they had some important major clashes that had the feel of generational struggle.

It would be tremendous theater if Woods and McIlroy go through anything similar with each other.

The next closest age-wise: Greg Norman is 15+ years older than Phil Mickelson. Nope, that one doesn’t quite work.

—--the column/

Rory McIlroy is 13 1/2 years younger and 13 major victories poorer than Tiger Woods, as of right this moment.

That first statistic won’t ever change, but the second total could be altered as soon as Sunday evening at Augusta National.

And if it does change — if either man wins, especially if he does it while staring down the other — it will be history happening again at the Masters.

Simply put, a victory by Woods or McIlroy would seriously recalibrate the ruling order of the sport, possibly for a long time.

McIlroy is the rising 22-year-old superstar who threw away a four-shot final-round lead last year at Augusta, then blew away the field at the U.S. Open in his next major start.

And Woods, 36, is the old lion who ended a two-year winless streak a few weeks ago and whose swing was made, and then remade, for this course.

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If McIlroy wins this weekend, he would grab control of the sport the same way Woods did, at 21, when he conquered the 1997 Masters.

If Woods wins his fifth green jacket — and his first since 2005 — it would cap his winding journey from injury, scandal and drought back to the pinnacle of the game.

Of course, it’s very possible that neither man will win or possibly even compete for the green jacket this year. Perhaps the great Woods-McIlroy showdown will be delayed for another time.

You can never tell what the bouncing golf ball will do in any specific tournament, and there are many other very good players.

But every few decades, the Masters has a way of marking the beginning and endings of great eras.

The dawning of Woods.

The last Jack Nicklaus major triumph in 1986, when he was 46.

The crashing end of Greg Norman as the world’s best in 1996.

Why do these transitions happen so often at the Masters? Because it’s the only major played at the same course every year, and because the greatest players always seem to be at their best there.

Now it’s set up for McIlroy and Woods, if they’re up for it.

This is McIlroy’s first chance to take on Woods when Woods is close to the top of his game, at Woods’ favorite course.

Woods is 0 for his last 6 Masters, but has finished no worse than a tie for sixth in that winless span. And from 1997 to 2005, Woods won four times in nine starts.

Beating a healthy, confident Woods straight up at Augusta National would be more than symbolic for McIlroy, it would be ground-shaking.

McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, would be a jauntier personality than Woods at the top of the game, that’s for sure.

Last year, while leading the tournament to start the back nine on Sunday, McIlroy hit an infamous pulled tee shot on No. 10 that ricocheted off a tree or two and then settled next to cabins that few people had ever seen before.

At his news conference in Augusta this week, McIlroy was asked if he confronted any demons when he played No. 10 during practice rounds.

“Not really,” McIlroy said. “I mean, I can’t believe how close the cabins are. They are only 50 yards off the tee.”

McIlroy said this as a joke, by the way.

“But no, look, it’s great to be able to laugh about it now,” McIlroy said.

Safe assumption: Woods wouldn’t laugh about such a shot, if he’d ever hit one in such a big moment — not a year afterward, not ever.

But turn it around, and you can see that this is Woods’ best chance to take down McIlroy … maybe ever, including the next 20 years.

It’s not a rivalry, per se: Woods’ generational rival is Phil Mickelson, who is only 51/2 years older than Woods and has only one fewer Masters victory.

Yes, another green-jacket ceremony on Sunday for Mickelson would have large overtones, too.

But we’re talking about epochal moments and talents here, and McIlroy and Woods are the players who fit those narrow boundaries.

They aren’t just measured by what they do, they’re measured by how they stack up against each other.

It’s the way Woods has always measured himself against Nicklaus’ achievements and the way we now measure McIlroy against Woods.

We never got to see Woods vs. Nicklaus in their primes. But we’ve got a shot to see Woods vs. McIlroy, both healthy and playing well.

They are playing against the course and the field, not necessarily against each other. But against the backdrop of history, they sort of are.

Tim Kawakami

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You forget Palmer / Nicklaus. Not sure their age difference but there was definitely a changing of the guard from Palmer to Nicklaus. That 1960 US Open is fascinating because of how it had Hogan/Palmer/Nicklaus and Palmer’s ascension to the undisputed top until Nicklaus topped him.

Niners Team of the 80′s

One factor to take into account w/ Tiger versus the younger generation is the prevalence of technology in today’s equipment. Carbon graphite club shafts, oversized driver heads, and multilayer balls feel natural to players such as McIlroy, Ricky Fowler, Jason Day, etc. who grew up with them whereas Woods in all likelihood was still using persimmon and balata during his Stanford and early-PGA years. Rory’s beautiful swing mechanics are perfectly blended this hi-tech gear as opposed to Tiger’s erratic driving over the last decade that caused him to go through three coaches.

Anyway, Tiger’s showing improvement hitting fairways working w/ Sean Foley and his age may have more of an effect on his putting if anything. I’m a Rory fan and look forward to their possible head-2-head’s this weekend and June at Olympic Club.

milo

Speaking of Tiger Woods, just in time for the Masters…

“Just as Tiger Woods is getting back into his swing for the Masters, three of his former porn-star mistresses are releasing a new X-rated movie based on their bedroom romps with the sex-crazed duffer.”